Russian Civil Aviation: News #2

PapaDragon wrote:
Russia ends use of airplane An-148

kvs wrote:

I hope it is in fact a new hard line.   No more coddling of NATO and fellow traveler haters.   Russia needs to sort out
the natural gas situation with EU-rope.   A collection of whinging ingrates who expect Russia to ship gas through Banderastan
and get blackmailed for both transit fees and outright gas siphoning (as has been the case since the 1990s).   The bitching
about Gazprom and Putin using some gas weapon is getting very tiresome.   These clowns need to be taught a lesson.

GarryB wrote:I agree that it is time to start pruning the Russian skies of obsolete Soviet aircraft especially with An in their title, but I would not include the new An-2 in this..............

There is no An-2 anymore, new aircraft is called TVS2-DTS

As Kommersant learned, President Vladimir Putin supported the idea of ​​the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop a new version of the SSJ100, agreeing with the allocation of about 85 billion rubles to the project. The new aircraft assumes fewer seats and maximum rejection of imported components, including a possible replacement of the engine. Ten boards are ready to take a special flight detachment (SLO) "Russia", carrying out transportation of the first persons of the state, and the first civil order for 75 aircraft can accommodate S7. The aircraft is also interesting to the Ministry of Defense, which needs replacing the outdated Tu-134 fleet. The new project finally closes the project of Tu-334, which was promoted by the authorities of Tatarstan.

The fact that Vladimir Putin agreed to allocate 85 billion rubles. to the new version of the SSJ100, sources in the aviation industry told Kommersant and confirmed the interlocutors in the apparatus of the government and presidential administration. According to them, the president imposed a positive resolution on the letter MD-12748/18, sent on March 1 by the head of the Ministry of Industry and Industry and chairman of the board of directors of the United Aircraft Corporation Denis Manturov. Get a comment in the Kremlin failed, in the Ministry of Industry and in the office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the aviation industry, they refused to discuss the project.

As the two top managers of aviation enterprises told, the idea of ​​creating a reduced SSJ100 appeared in the context of disputes over the fate of the Tu-334 project, which was developed from the late 1980s, but did not reach serial production. According to "Kommersant", initially the willingness to purchase Tu-334 was expressed by the "Russia" SLA. It was believed there would be no technical problems for the Kazan aircraft plant (KAZ): the Tu-334 fuselage has a similar cross-section with other Tupolev aircraft, the cabins are interfaced, and with the Tu-204 it is unified by accessories (by about 60%). The project was also supported by the authorities of Tatarstan, who "are extremely anxious" to load capacities of their enterprises, one of the interlocutors of Kommersant says.

It was even attempted to show Vladimir Putin, who visited KAZ on January 25, the last of the canned boards. But the presidential protocol decided that he would not be pleased with what he saw, and paved the route to bypass this point. "The local people were extremely annoyed, although they did not show that it was right," Kommersant's senior interlocutor in the Kremlin said: the next day, KAZ received the largest order for ten Tu-160M2 strategic bombers as a whole for 160 billion rubles. and "asking the president for something else was just not right."

In addition, the Tu-334 has a "huge minus", adds a source of "b" in the aircraft industry, the engines D-436 Ukrainian "Motor Sich". They could be replaced only with equipment from the US or Canada (which is almost impossible under sanctions, and the Russian special services opposed) or create a Russian equivalent for tens of billions of rubles. Taking into account the limited demand for aircraft, it is impossible to recoup such a project, Kommersant's source underlines. In addition, he clarifies, the government did not want to create a direct competitor to the SSJ100. The Tu-334 is focused on satisfying the requests of security agencies and the SLO, therefore "no return of investments is visible", agrees the executive director of the "Airport" Oleg Panteleyev. In addition, the White House considered it "strange" to promote even proven, but old Tupolev achievements in the background of the draft of the new MS-21.

Yury Slyusar, President of the United Aircraft Corporation, in an interview with Kommersant on July 18, 2017Yury Slyusar, President of the United Aircraft Corporation, in an interview with Kommersant on July 18, 2017
According to SSJ 100, we need to reach the production level of 30-40 aircraft a year. But we will not scale this project to large volumes

At the same time, there is a need to update the Yak-40 and Tu-134 fleets near the SLO (currently two such vehicles are used) and the military (36 obsolete Tu-134A and Tu-134A-3). Moreover, neither the SLO nor the Defense Ministry can buy the SSJ100 in the standard configuration due to a large number of imported components and difficulties with after-sales service.

Therefore, the aircraft manufacturers proposed another option: to reduce the SSJ100 to 75 seats, to replace the foreign products as much as possible (in the Sukhoi Civil Aircraft (GSS) that produce the aircraft, they say that the share of Russian components "will increase many-fold"), and also make changes to the wing , a fuselage, an onboard complex of avionics.

There is also the question of the aircraft's remotorization: according to Kommersant's information, instead of the SaM146 engine produced by the Russian "ODK-Saturn" and the French Safran Aircraft Engines, it may be a new PD-10 (9 tons thrust). At first Sam146 will be put on these planes, one of the interlocutors of Kommersant explains, but provided that Russian representatives will track the process of assembling the hot part of the engine in France. The JCC was assured that they have "a reserve both for the creation of a new power plant and for the modernization of the existing one."

According to Kommersant's information, SL is ready to order ten reduced SSJ100 (six in the "salon" version and four with a special onboard communication center) for 35 billion rubles. The possibility of ordering about 30 cars is considered by the Defense Ministry. The GCC also counts on private orders: according to company estimates, the need of the Russian market in the SSJ100 for 75 seats with a range of 1.5-2.5 thousand km can reach 200-300 aircraft, the foreign one - 3 thousand units. The names of potential customers were not disclosed there, but two sources of Kommersant on the air market say that the negotiations on 75 planes are conducted by the co-owner of S7 Vladislav Filev. In S7, Kommersant confirmed interest in the new SSJ100, saying that the airline is "actively working on a technical assignment". The possible volume of the order there is not specified. Now the S7 is developing a program of interregional flights on Embraer 170 for 78 seats.

The GSS specified that the new version of the SSJ100 could enter the market at the end of 2022 - early 2023, but a number of Kommersant sources in the aviation industry consider the timing too optimistic. In their estimation, the development of documentation and the construction of several prototypes will take at least eight years.

What prospects for the operation of Sea Launch depicted Vladislav Filev
What prospects for the operation of Sea Launch depicted Vladislav Filev
The project has a big stake: it should create a new segment of the market and expand the range of GSS aircraft, but a powerful initial order for about 100 planes is needed, the source of Kommersant in the government apparatus says, adding that "if S7 helps, there will not be any futures" .

One of the directions of "return" for the group can be projects in the space sphere. Vladislav Filev bought for $ 167 million from Energia corporation the Sea Launch launching platform in the Pacific Ocean, which uses Ukrainian Zenit rockets with the Russian RD-171 engine. In the conditions of a severe conflict between Moscow and Kiev, it is impossible to count on the continuation of production cooperation. But Mr. Fillev was allowed to organize a scheme: as a private person, he signed a contract for 12 "Zenit", the final assembly of which with the consent of the Government of the Russian Federation will be made using Russian components in the US. Thus, the businessman will be able to start active operation of Sea Launch within the next two years, fulfilling the promise given back in 2016: "In aviation I can not be the first, there is already Aeroflot, but in space I will."

And in April it is expected to sign a contract for the supply of 200 aircraft of this type in the period from 2021 to 2025 years. This was reported by the airline's website.....

PapaDragon wrote:
If this pans out that's 200 airplanes on one order alone, not too shabby for ''7 decades old'' oversized crop duster

The future Russian wide-body long-haul passenger liner Il-96-400M is expected to be rebranded. He will receive a new designation - Il-496. According to Izvestia, the principal decision has already been made, but in official documents this name will begin to appear from next year. The first prototype will be built before the end of the same 2019. According to experts, the market for such aircraft in Russia is small. But the IL-96-400 project is important from the point of view of development of competences in aircraft construction.

As Izvestia was told by three sources in the aviation industry that are familiar with the situation, the wide-body long-haul liner created in PJSC IL will receive a new designation Il-496. This decision has already been approved in principle at the governmental level.

- The need for rebranding is connected with the fact that the aircraft created is not just a modification of the IL-96, but its deep modernization. In fact, we are talking about a new airplane, "one of the interlocutors explained.

In the PJSC "Il", the company-developer of the aircraft, Izvestia did not comment on plans for rebranding. At the same time, they noted that they expect to prepare all the technical documentation for the construction of the first prototype IL-96-400M before the end of this year.

"The features of the projected aircraft will be the installation of modern domestic flight control and navigation equipment, as well as a modern passenger cabin that will provide comfortable conditions for passengers," the press service of Ilyushin said. - The presentation of the IL-96-400M is scheduled for the end of 2019.

The domestic navigation equipment in this case includes the inertial system (responsible for determining the position of the aircraft in space), the defendants (automatically transmit data to ground-based radar stations), navigation and landing systems. At the first stage in 2018-2019 such systems are planned to equip all IL-96-300 aircraft.

The program for creating the IL-96-400M involves the production of one prototype and six production aircraft. Construction of the first prototype at the aircraft plant in Voronezh is scheduled for the end of 2019, the first production aircraft for 2020. In the same year it is planned to complete the certification tests of the liner.

In the line of domestic aircraft, it will become a transitional product on the way to an ambitious Russian-Chinese aircraft of a new generation
The press service of the Ministry of Industry and Trade told Izvestia that the implementation of the IL-96-400M project is in accordance with the approved schedule. The work is funded within the limits of the federal budget.

According to Alexei Sinitsky, the editor-in-chief of the Air Transport Review, the niche of wide-body long-haul aircraft in Russia is small - only a little more than 80 cars of this class are operated. More than 60% of them are in the Aeroflot group of companies, several cars are owned by Utair, the rest - from tourist carriers. These liners can be used in the Far East of Russia or on international tourist routes. In special versions the aircraft may be of interest to specialized state customers.

- IL-96-400 in its current form on the economic characteristics and equipment remains at the level of the previous generation aircraft. But it is not much cheaper than new modern foreign-made airliners. By the cost of ownership throughout the life cycle, the loss is very large, - said Alexei Sinitsky.

Nevertheless, the IL-96-400M project should help the domestic aviation industry retain its competencies and load production capacities. In the long term, the civilian line of aircraft should be replenished with a wide-body liner of a new generation, to the creation of which Russia started together with Chinese partners - corporation COMAC.

IL-96-400M is created as an extended modification of the passenger Il-96-300. Takeoff weight of the new liner will be 270 tons. The aircraft will be able to take on board up to 400 passengers. In this car will be used avionics, materials and components of Russian production. As previously reported by Izvestia, the total planned budget of the program for the creation of the liner is 53.4 billion rubles.

GunshipDemocracy wrote:

PapaDragon wrote:
If this pans out that's 200 airplanes on one order alone, not too shabby for ''7 decades old'' oversized crop duster

Which actually can still do crop dusting

PapaDragon wrote:
And carry more pesticide as well...

Also bonus, cockpit photo of airplane in question:

the new aircraft is two tonnes heavier than the An-2 yet achieves nearly twice the top speed, carries twice as much payload, over three times longer distances while retaining the An-2’s impressive take-off and landing characteristics.

PapaDragon wrote:
Presentation in Yakutsk